Engaging Ungrading with Susan Blum

Welcome to Episode 64 of the Think UDL podcast: Engaging Ungrading with Susan Blum! Susan Blum is the editor and author of several chapters of the book Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead). She is also Professor of Anthropology, Fellow, Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Fellow, Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, Fellow, Institute for Educational Initiatives, Fellow, Eck Institute for Global Health all at the The University of Notre Dame. In this episode, Susan and I explore the connections between “Ungrading” and Universal Design for Learning principles, especially focussing on how “Ungrading” engages students, reduces threats and distractions (yes, grades are distractions to learning) and fosters community. Ungrading can also provide multiple options for action and expression, so we will be covering quite a number of the UDL guidelines today.    At one point in our conversation, you may hear a difference in sound quality on my audio as we had to revert to our backup audio for the last half of the interview.   Near the end of the episode, Susan mentions the book Minding Bodies: How Physical Space, sensation and movement affect learning by Susan Hrach, and indeed I had just interviewed Susan Hrach the day before our recorded conversation. If you would like to hear that conversation, you will find it listed just before this episode. It is Think UDL’s Episode 63: Minding Bodies, Senses, and Perception with Susan Hrach. But for now, thank you for joining me for this very thoughtful conversation with Susan Blum on “ungrading.”